Millimeter-Wave Generation In An Optoelectronic Oscillator Using An Ultrahigh Finesse Etalon As A Photonic Filter

A Fabry-Perot etalon with a finesse of 100 000 is used as a photonic filter in a single loop optoelectronic oscillator. The etalon provides narrow bandwidth microwave filtering at harmonics of its 1.5 GHz free spectral range for oscillation in the range of 6 to 60 GHz. Fiber delays as long as 2 km are added to the loop with no spurious modes visible above the noise floor. The environmental stability of the etalon makes it suitable as a secondary reference for feedback to the optical frequency which contributes to the reduction of phase noise and long term frequency drift. © 1983-2012 IEEE